Saturday, 23 March 2013

Interview: Ian Wyatt and his Orky Contraptions

Scatch-building and 'kustomising' is something many of us try, but some just have a talent for it. Forty year old Ian Wyatt is one such talented individual, and has made a number of fantastic Ork tanks and vehicles, ranging from Rhino modifications all the way up to 100% custom tracked battleship-type creations and flying gun-boats.

Ian hasn't played a game of 40k, but is very much in love with making and building fantastic display models. Whilst not always game-legal, you can count on them being fantastic displays of creativity and skill. The fact that there aren't any plans, blueprints or diagrams makes it more amazing.

Currently, the York based modeller is sticking with Orky ingenuity for the time being. "I've made some Chaos Nurgle stuff, but I love Orks too much, and I'm not bored of them yet so can’t see myself moving". Ian, in typical Ork fashion, doesn't have a 'plan' for his many creations, and that maybe the secret to Orky success.

"The plan is always in my head, I never draw anything or very rarely write anything down, the only things I plan for now a days are rule stuff, i.e. is it legal and so on. I’ll be on dakkdakka or another website and see a model/models I like, then I down load the photo to a “Things to make” folder on my computer, that will be my starting block for some of my models".

"Trust me, if you build a model from the top of your head and name it “Bad Ass Death Walker” the will be 5 more Bad Ass Death Walker out there that were made months ago".

Most of what Ian uses in his conversions is plasticard sheets, tubes and rods. Most of this stuff is available on-line (should you wish to try). Some parts are spares from his own "bitz-box", but Ian Said: "this does run low from time to time and also all the good bits are hard to come by, so eBay is my friend. I guess I need some good 40k mates with loads of bits that they don’t want".

Should you wish to check more out, and you're in York, his models are on display at The Travelling Man (which also sells 40k/fantasy and Warmachine/Hordes). Ian is happy to take on commission pieces. Should you want to talk to him about it, you can contact him on Dakkadakka.com via the username wazzoo2000, or by email at: iwyatt@btinternet.com and he can speak to you about prices and what you want making.

As an endnote, this blog has finally hit 40,000 likes! This was a target I'd set to have achieved by September 2013, so a big thanks to everyone who has got me there so much faster. I hope you continue to view the blog, and visit the Facebook page.